In the construction of homes and commercial and industrial buildings, frequent use is made of drywall panels, floor panels and interior wall finish panels that are available in a standard 4.times.8 foot size. Often these panels are transported to the job site in pick-up trucks. The conventional pick-up truck has been designed with a cargo box width in which the distance between the wheel housings that protrude into the cargo area is in excess of 48 inches. With the current trend in the down-sizing of trucks in the interest of better fuel economy, the wheel house spacing has become less than 48 inches, although the distance between side walls of the cargo box still exceeds this dimension. The result is that it is impossible to carry 4.times.8 panels in the cargo box with the panels lying flat on the box floor.
It is known in the prior art to provide cargo boxes in which the wheel housings have flat upper surfaces, such as disclosed in U.S. design patent Des. 222,449, issued Oct. 26, 1971, to E. F. Wagoner et al, for a "Wrecker Body". It is also known to provide protective inner liners for the cargo boxes of trucks. The protective liner covers are contoured to cover the original wheel housings and have flat upper surfaces on the false wheel housings. Reference may be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,814,473, issued June 4, 1974, to G. F. Lorenzen, for a "Protective Inner Liner for Trucks", and to U.S. design patent Des. 249,494, issued Sept. 19, 1978, to R. H. Lambitz et al, for a "Cargo Box Liner for Pick-Up Trucks".
U.S. Pat. No. 2,889,097, issued June 2, 1959, to C.W. Broehl, for an "Automobile Utility Device" is of interest in that it discloses a supporting table adapted to be installed in a station wagon above the level of the rear wheel housing, but it does not suggest the use of the flat upper surfaces of the wheel housings an an element of a support system for carrying articles such as a panel that is 4 feet wide.